Computing platforms, such as personal computers, tablet computers, laptops, cellular telephones, and other mobile or portable devices can include a system monitor to monitor and manage their resources and performance. For instance, the system monitor can monitor and manage resources within the computing platform, such as memory, that can be requested by and allocated to various software processes running on the computing platform. A process can request additional resources from the computing platform, and the system monitor can grant the request and allocate the requested resources or, in some instances, terminate the process based on the effect granting the request would have on overall system resources or performance.